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Some town and cities have a crazy one free bite law, and the dog will go free,
even if it tears a child's face half off.

No action is taken until the dog makes an attacks on a person
making for it's second offence.

.

In this case the dog is clearly attacking unprovoked. But there are plenty of times when a dog may bite defensively because someone was doing something they shouldn't have been doing, e.g. abusing the animal or the animal's owner. What you are saying makes no sense in that scenario. You are saying "Kill the dog on the first offense, without exception." When there are very clear cut situations when that would be the wrong thing to do. It's a black and white approach to a complicated problem.

Maybe it would get them to think twice before owning another vicious dog, and letting it run loose.

I guess that would depend a lot upon your relationship with your neighbors. If you feel like they aren't remorseful, and you want to spend years of your time and energy to financially ruin someone just to prove a point, then go for it. Otherwise, I think having them pay the medical bills and having it be done with makes the most sense. But, maybe I'm just not as gratuitously litigious as you are.

...But having worked with dogs literally since the time I could walk, I can honestly say that I have never observed this type of behavior from a dog. They do not typically "stalk" prey in this way - usually there would either be some sort of confrontation (or warning) OR the dog would just spot and then charge its target with no hesitation. But creeping around a corner like that and then grabbing the kid in such a calculated manner is just SO atypical of a domesticated dog attack.

I'm friends with a lot of other experienced dog people, and none of us are talking about the cat - we all acknowledge that any species will defend what is important to it. The dog's behavior is what has us talking - everyone agrees that even with all the problem dogs they've worked with, they've never observed behavior quite like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annie53

My first thought was that the dog has been tormented and teased by that child or other children that size........and when he had the opportunity to fight back......he took it.

When I was 6 years old, a neighbor's pony ran across the coral and bit my arm as I was standing in the feed trough.

I had always been nothing but kind to that pony......but the 6 year old who "owned" it and his cousin were constantly tormenting that poor pony.....smacking it with sticks and throwing stones at it.

I was collateral damage. That pony saw me as one of his enemies because I was a small human type just like them.

Even at that young age, I never blamed the pony......I blamed his tormentors.

I agree with both of you that it is not normal what this dog did. It's not typical that a dog will go to someone elses territory and attack, unprovoked. Makes you wonder what the history is.

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